N&O to distribute controversial DVD

Bundled in The News & Observer tomorrow is a DVD of a controversial documentary film on Islam that has stirred anger on college campuses and led the Florida attorney general to form a Muslim advisory board in the wake of community objections.

The film, "Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West," features scenes of Muslim children being encouraged to become suicide bombers, interspersed with those of Nazi rallies. The two-year-old film was produced by Raphael Shore, a Canadian who lives in Israel, and directed by Wayne Kopping of South Africa.

When no traditional film distributors picked it up, it was screened on college campuses. This month -- just in time for Ramadan -- is being distributed in more than 70 newspapers across the nation, including two other McClatchy newspapers, The Charlotte Observer and The Miami Herald.

"There is no greater threat than radical Islam,"said Gregory Ross, spokesman for the Clarion Fund, a New-York based non-profit organization that is paying newspapers to distribute it. "It needs to be pushed to the forefront of the political discussion."

Ross said the DVD was timed to coincide with the seventh anniversary of the terrorist strikes of Sept. 11, 2001. Asked if he was aware that September this year is also the holy month of Ramadan, Ross said that was "purely coincidental."

Jim McClure, vice president of advertising, declined to say what The News & Observer was charging to deliver the DVD as part of the Saturday paper. But he dismissed allegations that it was inflammatory.

"In the beginning of the DVD it clearly states it's not about Islam. It's about radical Islam," McClure said.

Despite the disclaimer, the film features prominent anti-Muslim pundits including Daniel Pipes, Steven Emerson and Walid Shoebat who told the Springfield News-Leader "Islam is not the religion of God -- Islam is the devil."

Muslims across the country and in the Triangle said they were disappointed by the decision.

"It ads fuel to the fire and devalues the work we do," said Khalilah Sabra, an organizer with the Raleigh chapter of the Muslim American Society, which lists "promoting understanding" as its mission.